The Speech

The so-called new tactics are not new, the escalation while large in human terms is too small to matter in strategic terms, the troops being sent over will not in the main have proper equipment (the armor hasn’t been built yet), and they will not “win” the conflict — whatever “win” means in this context.

Rattling the saber against Iran and Syria is sort of new — it’s been policy for a while, but this is more open.

Overall, I see this as a bookend to Bush’s post-9/11 speech, about a week after the attack. I cried at that one — I saw it as making an open-ended commitment to an endless, formless, armed conflict against vague enemies, a conflict so prolonged it would eat my children, then quite young. I didn’t cry today, I’m too numbed by all that’s led up to this.

Best case: Today is the day that Bush started to lose his base, at least as much on body language as on bankrupt policy. But will the loss come quickly enough to slow or stop the carnage?